Moscow/New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today expressed interest in further stepping up mutually beneficial bilateral ties and wished each other success at the upcoming elections – the Presidential Election in Russia and the General Elections in India.
Putin had a telephone conversation with Modi and their discussion focused on current issues of developing Russian-Indian relations of specially privileged strategic partnership. The two leaders reviewed progress on several issues of bilateral cooperation in follow-up to recent high-level exchanges between the two countries. Both “positively assessed” the developments in bilateral relations and agreed to develop a roadmap for future initiatives to further strengthen the India-Russia ‘Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership”.
Both sides expressed satisfaction with various successes in practical interaction in such areas as cooperation in trade and the economy, science and technology, energy, transport and logistics, as well as cooperation in Russia’s Far East.
On January 1, 2024, the Russian Federation assumed the chairmanship of BRICS. In this context, both leaders emphasised their readiness to closely coordinate their approaches to the BRICS agenda.
Narendra Modi was quoted by the Kremlin saying that India intends to help implement the goals and objectives of Russia’s chairmanship. The leaders also touched on several other international issues, including the situation around Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi agreed to continue their “personal contact”.
– global bihari bureau